What is a BioBlitz?

For all the latest information on BioBlitz, check the event's Facebook page.

The Yale Peabody Museum teams up with Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo and The Connecticut Audubon Society in Bridgeport for our third annual BioBlitz — a 24-hour race to identify as many living organisms as possible in a specific area, in this case the town of Stratford. See the results of our previous Stratford BioBlitz events:

There are several Bioblitz events each year throughout Connecticut. Many are conducted by municipal land trust organizations or conservation groups interested in learning which species occur on properties in their care. The University of Connecticut bioblitz takes place in a different town every other year.

One of the main goals of a Bioblitz is to collect data from a single town in multiple seasons to see how the species diversity of a place changes annually.

Habitats available for the Stratford survey include 2 beaches, a salt marsh, a cranberry bog, rivers, streams, ponds and a mixed hardwood forest.

Directions

To Short Beach, Stratford:

From the East: Take I-95 South to Exit 32. Turn left onto Linden Avenue. Make another left onto West Broad Street. You will go through a roundabout. Turn right onto Route 113/Main Street, follow for 2.1 miles. Turn left onto Short Beach Road. Stay straight to go onto Dorne Drive. Follow Dorne Drive and it will put you into Short Beach Park.

From the West: Take I-95 North to Exit 30. Take the ramp to Sikorsky Memorial Airport. Take a slight right onto Lordship Boulevard/Route 113. Stay straight to go onto Access Road. Make a right onto Main Street. Take a left onto Short Beach Road. Stay straight to go onto Dorne Drive. Follow Dorne Drive and it will put you into Short Beach Park.

To Roosevelt Forest, Stratford:

From CT-15/Merritt Parkway take Exit 53 onto CT-110, turn south onto CT-110/Main St. (away from Sikorsky Aircraft). Stay on road for less than 0.2 miles. Turn slight right onto Main St. (also Main St. Putney); turn is shortly after the underpass for CT-15 and almost immediately at the bottom of ramp from the northbound side of CT-15. Turn right onto Chapel St. Turn slight right onto James Farm Rd. (intersection has a stop sign and is near a school); stay on James Farm Road and cross back over CT-15. Turn slight left onto Peters Lane after 0.4 miles. Follow Peters Lane for approximately 0.6 miles into the parking lot of Roosevelt Forest.